# The words mean something else **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 2, 2004, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-words-mean-something-else/262834 "2004-09-02T21:00:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![High\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8797f3/32.png) [@High\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/High_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-words-mean-something-else/262834/41 "2004-09-05T23:08:17Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > Although, being in the Air Force, one would think he’d be eligible for military medical benefits. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2004, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-words-mean-something-else/262834/42 "2004-09-06T00:28:43Z")
> [@Pun](#): > > So now you see part of why I’d happily pay 70% of whatever I earn to ensure that life’s troubles are eased for other people. Can’t solve my own, Og knows, but there’s someone somewhere whose life would be more than proportionally improved with a little more money and time. Given my desired occupation I don’t think I’ll ever be in a 70% bracket (grade school teachers aren’t often featured in Forbes magazine), but it’s the thought that counts. There is nothing stopping you from gladly giving 70% right now. Plenty of worthy charities could use the money, so go ahead and give. And again, no one has any problem with what you decide to do with your own earnings. You just shouldn’t be deciding what to do with mine. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2004, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-words-mean-something-else/262834/43 "2004-09-06T03:04:35Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > You just shouldn’t be deciding what to do with mine [earnings]. Ah, but what if I am elected for that express purpose;) (FTR, I largely agree with you, based on my experience that politicians often don’t know enough about what their constituency need to properly make the really crucial decisions. However, as I don’t know of a better system right now, I have yet to storm the castle, so to speak.) ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2004, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-words-mean-something-else/262834/44 "2004-09-06T10:35:00Z")
Perhaps a better system is to allow every man to decide for himself how he wishes to be governed. That way, you are not burdened with having to make decisions for the whole world. > [@](#): > > We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2004, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-words-mean-something-else/262834/45 "2004-09-06T11:06:55Z")
I would add that I believe that the pursuit of happiness can be confounded by the tyranny of property privilege every bit as easily as by government. To address the OP: Canada is the only instance I know of wherein the option of private healthcare is _denied_ by the state. ---
**Author:** ![InvidiousCourgette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@InvidiousCourgette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InvidiousCourgette)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2004, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-words-mean-something-else/262834/46 "2004-09-06T11:33:52Z")
I am glad to pay tax at the highest rate in my country, if it means that the best medical treatment is available to all, regardless of circumstance, free of charge at the point of delivery. It is a source of amazement to me that my relatively poor country can afford this system in contast to the richest country in the world. It may not be perfect, but, IMHO, it is dehumanising for us all to see some poor bastard suffer because he only has access to second rate health care. I would, however, be mightily pissed off if my government decided to use my tax money to finance a military out of all proportion required by the post cold war environment. Socialised medicine and defence spending are prejudicial terms. They are used to convey and reinforce a political point of view. You may find that distasteful, but the reality is prejudicial terminology is used throughout politics and the media. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2004, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-words-mean-something-else/262834/47 "2004-09-06T11:56:05Z")
> [@InvidiousCourgette](#): > > Socialised medicine and defence spending are prejudicial terms. They are used to convey and reinforce a political point of view. You may find that distasteful, but the reality is prejudicial terminology is used throughout politics and the media. I agree. I do, hence the thread. To which I would add their fundamental quality is inaccuracy, a quality not shared by much prejudicial language in public discourse. Feel free to add any other such terms. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-words-mean-something-else/262834/48 "2004-09-06T19:34:28Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > illegitimage What?! You mean Gandalf’s parents _weren’t married?!_ Dexter, you’re right about _1984_ demonstrating how language can be used for manipulation, though I personally found the “doublethink” concept more terrifying, in which blatant contradictions can be casually shrugged off. When logic and cause-and-effect are seen as trivial nuisances, yikes! ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2004, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-words-mean-something-else/262834/49 "2004-09-09T22:15:09Z")
Another one: Anti-Defamation League. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-words-mean-something-else/262834/50 "2004-09-10T06:10:26Z")
's’more **necessary** as in: > [@](#): > > A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-words-mean-something-else/262834.md?page=2)